Three cops with a doughnut shop sounds like the set-up to a joke. But the trio that opened Blue Dot Donuts in 2011 have proved they're no punchline. The shop on Canal Street, which took a more creative approach to America's favorite breakfast pastry, kicked off a mini-mania locally for imaginative doughnuts. Others that followed include the District Donuts.Sliders.Brew, the pop-up Upper Nine Donuts and the bakeries like Manhattanjack.

"I came by every day," said a woman waiting in line, "to see when they were opening."

At 6 a.m. the day before Blue Dot opened, an RTA driver parked his streetcar and dashed across the neutral ground to find out when he would be able to start his day with a hot, glazed doughnut.

"It was hard to get work done, " said Dennis Gibliant, who along with his friends Ronald Laporte and Brandon Singleton owns Blue Dot Donuts, "because people were always knocking on the door wondering when we were opening."

Plenty of the owners' friends were in that opening-day line, which often stretched out the door. They were particularly understanding as the kitchen struggled to keep up with the demand.

It's a good thing the owners' pals kept their cool, since most of them were armed. Gibliant, Laporte and Singleton are all members of the New Orleans Police Department.

Yes, cops do eat doughnuts. At Blue Dot, they also make them. Singleton came up with the idea of opening a doughnut shop.

Gibliant and Laporte, who share Singleton's interest in cooking, were happy to be his partners in the enterprise.

"Everybody brings a different element," Gibliant said, "and then we fight and get over it."

They spent a year reading books, scouring the Internet for tips and spending time with Ziggy Cichowski of Maple Street Patisserie, which is in the 2nd Police District, where they all three work.

"He knows every trick," Laporte said.

The three policemen also ate dozens and dozens of doughnuts from shops in almost every ward of New Orleans.

"I'll be honest with you," Gibliant said, "that can wear on you after a while."

They took the best ideas they found and added some of their own. Currently, about 40 different types of doughnuts rotate through Blue Dot's display cases. They sell traditional varieties, such as cake, buttermilk and chocolate iced. They also have original recipes, such as yeast doughnuts with an orange glaze flecked with zest or a cake doughnut topped with peanut butter and chocolate. You'll even find a couple of truly odd flavors, like blue cheese or maple and bacon.

"We're going to get creative, " Singleton said.

Like good cops, the owners got to know their neighborhood. "We've noticed," Gibliant said, "that the population has become more Northern."

To cater to these newcomers, Blue Dot has maple iced bars, a staple above the Mason-Dixon line but almost impossible to find in New Orleans.

"We also have a large Hispanic population in Mid-City, so down the road we'd like to get into churros," he said.

Blue Dot also has turnovers that are filled to order with seasonal fruit. Order an ice cream sandwich, and you'll get a split cake doughnut with a scoop from the New Orleans Ice Cream Company in the middle.

"The whole idea," Gibliant said, "is to get a hot, delicious glazed out the door in the morning, just like most doughnut shops. But we wanted to continue through the day, so you can come in and get dessert."

Blue Dot may be a brand new bakery, but the kitchen is run by Michael Williams, a veteran of the doughnut business. Williams spent two decades at the original Gerald's Donuts in Chalmette.

"I know how to eat a doughnut," Singleton said, "but I don't know how to make one."

Williams brought with him old-fashioned techniques, lots of interesting recipes and a commitment to give customers freshly fried glazed doughnuts all morning long.

"We had our system (at Gerald's) where if you asked for one hot glazed, you got it," Williams said. "I told them that's the way to run this place. Everybody loves it."

On the second day Blue Dot was open, the crowds were less frenzied. There was undeniable evidence, however, that the reputation of the three guys' shop was spreading beyond their fellow cops -- parked in front of Blue Dot was a shiny red fire engine.